NY Yankees vs. LA Angels

Last night, we attended the Yankees vs. Angels game at Yankee Stadium. Having lived on both coasts, I decided this was the perfect game to attend. We lucked out big-time as it was raining all day and finally broke into a beautiful day only a few hours before the game started. The actually game was exciting—full of home runs and funny people caught on the Jumbotron. The game was neck-and-neck until about the 4th or 5th inning, where the Yankees dominated with home run after home run, ending the game 14-7. Go Yankees!

Summer Streets NYC

This past Saturday, I decided to take part in an event called Summer Streets. Lafayette St & Park Ave was closed off to cars from the Brooklyn Bridge all the way up to Central Park. This enabled runners, cyclists, roller bladers, and walkers to experience the 7 mi path without having to worry about getting hit by a yellow taxi. There were rest stops every few blocks or so with lots of activities and free stuff. There were ziplines, rock-climbing walls, gym classes happening outside gyms like Crunch, Revolve, Crossfit, they were also giving away free 1 long memberships and free classes. I'll be using my free class pass for an intense cycling class at Revolve...wish me luck. There was a free ices stand where they actually scrapped the ice off of a  huge ice block and poured flavoring over it. It wasn't Ralph's but it was a pretty cool and authentic representation of 'Ices.'

Although we didn't make it all the way to Central Park, we decided to hop on the subway to Williamsburg, Brooklyn to get a taste of Smorgasburg, which is a Brooklyn based, food flea market. It was so hard to choose what you wanted to eat because everything looked so delicious and original. I ended up getting a lobster roll and a mango ice pop. Yum. The view was gorgeous with the food stands on one side and a picture perfect view of Manhattan. Not to mention it was a beautiful day out.

Lucky for us, there was a MTV VMA pop-up truck in the next lot over so we went over and got free popsicles, VMA bags, VMA beach balls and took a shot at winning a few prices, which unfortunately, we did not win. But we did get to take pictures with the VMA 'Moonman' and act like we were famous celebrities—a pass time I seem to love. I love spending beautiful days outside with good friends, and partaking in fun & FREE events like this one, you will not be disappointed.  There will the final Saturday of Summer Streets on August 17th. I hope this upcoming weekend will be nice so I can continue exploring the city and enjoying my summer. XO

Beginning @ the Brooklyn Bridge

Stands at a rest stop along the route

A terribly taken photo of the Summer Streets Route Map

A stop along the route

Smorgasburg, Brooklyn

Picture in front of the amazing view of NYC

Bronx Zoo & Astoria Beer Garden

This past Wednesday I took off from work and went to the Bronx Zoo with Billy, my best friend, Christina, and her boyfriend, Julian. Our day included hopping on an express bus (BxM11) that took us from NYC to the Bronx Zoo entrance in 40 minutes (sweet), lots of animals—lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my—a monorail, and the Astoria Beer Garden. At the Astoria Beer Garden, beer on tap was only $3 for a mug. We grabbed some beers and went outside to the enclosed outside area and ordered dinner. The outside was huge and had a stage and tons of long picnic type tables. Take a look at the pictures & captions of our day below.

Happiest Frog

Tiger went for a swim right next to the window

This snake came right up to my face which was pretty terrifying

All the Gorillas looked so old and wise, and pretty bored. A fight even broke out btw two.

We saw Elephants while on the monorail.

Netherland Club of New York

Since Billy is Dutch, we looked into ways he could still enjoy his culture while he is here in New York.  We stumbled upon an amazing organization called The Netherland Club of New York, where they put together tons of events and parties to celebrate Dutch culture and to bring the Dutch in NYC together.

 This past Tuesday (8/6/13), we attended our first event at the Netherland Club, which was a Dutch Young Professionals party. Dressed in party attire, we arrived at the club and made our way upstairs to the terrace for the party. We've been emailing back and forth with the general manger, and once we arrived, she was thrilled to meet us. We told her about our story and our plan for Billy to stay in NY and she promised to help by introducing Billy to the right people at the Netherland Club. Fingers crossed.

We grabbed a free Heineken (a traditional Dutch beer, brewed in Holland) and made our way outside. After a few minutes of lingering and looking for the perfect opportunity to mingle with some nearby Dutch young professionals, we jumped into a conversation with two Dutch guys and a Dutch girl. We immediately all became friends, sharing each of our stories and reasons we were there. Overall, it was a great night that felt as if we were right back in Holland (except from the astonishing views of NYC, of course).

Quick stop in Union Square to pick-up something before the party

Washington Square Park

To continue my adventures of seeing all of NYC, we spent a nice day in the city on Saturday, August 3rd. We took the L to Union Square and casually walked down to Cafe Habana—an amazing restaurant that may just have the best corn on the cob known to man. Since we were eating dinner in a few hours we just stopped for a piece of corn, but usually we would grab one of their Cuban sandwiches as well.

Corn on the cob @ Cafe Habana

After lunch, we took a quick walk through Soho, which was packed with tourists and shopaholics. We made our way up to Washington Square Park and snagged a spot on a bench to watch all the action that was happening around us. Young girls playing violin to raise money for a violin competition in Ireland, street performers, couples lounging together on the grass, cyclists, tourists taking pictures, and children playing in the fountain filled the entirety of the park. 

Violinists @ Washington Square Park

We decided since I've never been there to be tourists ourselves and take the very unoriginal photo in front of the Washington Square Arch.

Afterwards we slowly walked up to 23rd to get my favorite drink in the world—a bubble tea. Later than evening we had dinner at my cousin's amazing restaurant Suenos with one of my friends. 

Coney Island

On the 2nd of August we ventured to Coney Island. As a New York native, I've never visited Coney Island and figured it was a must-see even if I only went once. The commute was painful, filled with lots of transfers and very long subway rides. It took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to get there but when our train pulled in we immediately saw all the flashing lights and rides.

We decided not to get the $29 unlimited ride bracelet because there was only one or two rides that we actually wanted to do. We decided just to walk around and scope out the scene, play games, and do some good 'ol people watching—which was especially interesting at Coney Island. There were lots of young kids running around, game operators hollering at you to play their game, and a bunch of rowdy groups of teenagers. Lucky for us, there were fireworks on the beach the night, so we walked the boardwalk, played some air-hockey at the arcade, and had a famous Nathan's hotdog.

On the way back to the subway, we stop at It's Sugar to fill our bag with tasty treats and candy for the ride home. The ride home was even longer but I'm glad we got to experience Coney Island in all it's glory. I don't think I'll be making a trip back any time soon but I'm happy I can now cross it off my Summer to-do list.

NYC Highline

We recently explored the NYC Highline, something that I embarrassingly just discovered actually existed in NYC. We got on the Highline in the meat packing district and walked the entirety of it to 34th street. The highline went through the Chelsea Market where many of the vendors brought kiosks outside to sell their food to the Highliners. The views of NY were awesome and there was a section where you could sit right above the street and watch all the traffic moving away from you.

As you continued walking you saw wooden lounge chairs and an area with water running just enough to splash your feet in. A majority of the rest of the highline was greenery and amazing views of the city.

NYC Summer To-Do List

It's a long list but this is my NYC Summer to do list.

1. Smorgasburg @ The Brooklyn Bridge

2. MoMa Rain Room (closed before I could go)

3. Monday Movie Night @ Bryan Park

4. Summer Streets 

5. Picnic on Picnic Point in Governors Island

6. Visit the Highline

7. Eat at the Frying Pan

8. Coney Island

9. New York Botanical Garden

10. Astoria Beer Garden

11. Brooklyn Flea Markets

12. Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge&Grimaldi's

13. Get tix to Shakespeare in the Parks' Love Labour's Lost

14. Kayaking at The Downtown Boathouse

15. 230 Fifth Rooftop Bar

16. Shakes @ Serendipity

17. Bike to Jones Beach 

18. Dinner @ The Nautical Mile

19. Win Book of Mormon lottery tickets 

20. Boardy Barn

21. Bronx Zoo

22. Six Flags Freight Fest

23. Go Karting

24. Yankee Game
25. Top of the Empire State Building
26. LOVE Sign

27 Life Hacks Every Girl Should Know

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Arielle Calderon

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